Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Batman vs. Superman’ Makes All of the Money in the World, But Is It Enough?

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was never not going to have an enormous opening weekend. Toxic reviews and mixed word of mouth mean nothing next to hype — that title alone guaranteed a record-breaking start. And right now, Zack Snyder’s superhero epic does look like a gigantic hit. However, this weekend is really all about the trailers and posters and Warner Bros.’ omnipresent marketing. The real challenge will be next weekend, when the film’s legs will be properly tested.

Film

Weekend

Per Screen

1

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

$170,100,000

$40,099

$170,100,00

2

Zootopia

$23,138,000 (-37.7)

$6,305

$240,547,000

3

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2

$18,120,000

$5,784

$18,120,000

4

Miracles From Heaven

$9,500,000 (-35.9)

$3,118

$34,127,000

5

Allegiant

$9,500,000 (-67.3)

$2,540

$46,605,496

6

10 Cloverfield Lane

$6,000,000 (-52.0)

$2,141

$56,010,797

7

Deadpool

$5,000,000 (-37.6)

$2,140

$349,472,050

8

London Has Fallen

$2,926,000 (-57.3)

$1,347

$55,614,857

9

Hello, My Name Is Doris

$1,575,000 (+57.8)

$3,227

$3,142,764

10

Eye in the Sky

$1,001,204 (+136.9)

$8,140

$1,723,311

Batman v Superman opened with a gigantic $170 million, the biggest opening yet for a DC Comics movie and a new March record. It’s not quite Avengers numbers, but it’s certainly close enough, especially since Man of Steel struggled to reach $300 million three years ago (it didn’t quite make it). But unlike Deadpool, which opened to enormous numbers on a modest budget, Batman v Superman has opened to enormous numbers on an enormous budget. It’s going to need to break a billion worldwide if it’s going to be considered a hit and anything less than $350 million or so at the domestic box office won’t be a good look (and even that’s being generous). The real test for the film will come next weekend. Will people still flock to theaters after word on the film gets around? Maybe. It certainly works for the far more maligned Transformers movies.

The other major new release of the week also sits on unsteady ground. An $18 million opening is a strong start for My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, but the original film became a $241 million hit through word of mouth and a long, slow roll-out that allowed audiences to discover the film. It’s unlikely that the sequel will even come close to matching the success of the original, but if buzz is strong (if your mom likes it), it can be a modest hit.

However, this weekend really proved the strength of Zootopia, which showcased strong legs in its third weekend by clinging on to second place with $23 million. With $240 million in the bank, Disney Animation’s latest film should cruise past $300 million soon enough, although anything too far beyond that will be unlikely. It won’t do Frozen business, but it will fare better than Big Hero 6 and Wreck-It Ralph.

In fourth place, Miracles From Heaven continued to play well to its audience, taking a small dip and grossing $9 million for a $34 million total. The film should already be deep into the black, so anything from this point on is pure profit.

You need to go to fifth place to find a true disaster. Allegiant plummeted in its second weekend, dropping 67 percent and grossing only $9 million. With only $46 million earned so far, it won’t even come close to reaching the grosses of the first two Divergent films. Heck, you have to wonder if the fourth and final film will even get made at all at this point — this is a disaster for a series that looked like a reliable-enough Hunger Games imitator a year ago.

In sixth place, 10 Cloverfield Lanehas been reduced to a trickle, but it’s already a huge hit. The same goes for Deadpool in seventh place, which will cross $350 million any day now. And then there’s London Has Fallen, which will soon end its run with a little more than $60 million in grosses, a significant fall from the first film.